Life's Treasures Pick-ups, Part Deux

Two posts in one week!? Must be a full moon. 

     I stopped by Life's Treasures again in Port Richey, the same place I found this epic hardcover score. They had a lot of new books out, the same ones from last time, and also a huge Star Wars book and comic collection that I had no interest in. It was all newer stuff, and new editions of old books and graphic novels... I'm sure someone will grab it. I found these four new books among the new stuff:

     All book club editions, but the quality is really good and the books have very few issues. I could not be happier with this little score for $2 each, and I will have to go back soon and see what else is being put out on the shelves.

See you next time. 

$50 fill a bag - Small Business Saturday Returns

 

The Paperback Exchange Bookstore is my kind of place.

     The Paperback Exchange Bookstore has been a once a year visit for me since I moved to the Tampa area. They don't get much new in the way of Science Fiction and Fantasy, and heavily rely on the donations from their frequent customers. Once the owner told me they had so many books dropped off during covid to keep them in business and the shelves full for 10 more years. Books are priced by Ebay sold value when the tags were put on them years ago, which is fair to today's market being the prices of everything went up. Condition of the books I would consider.. fair. Items that are labeled as "rare" almost always have pretty bad condition issues and are essentially worth just a fraction of what they are listed at. I did not get to take any pictures inside today as it was very crowded and the aisles are VERY close together; if you want to bend over and look at the bottom shelf, you have to take a knee so you don't hit the case behind you. Walking past someone requires them to leave the aisle you are in, and then you take their place. For those following along, I did the fill-a-bag deal with them two years ago today, the post is here.

The rules are a little different this year:

• Nothing newer than 3 years old
• Price has doubled to $50 - $45 if you brought your old bag
• No "rare" stickered books
• No store credits
• 20% off New and Rare books
• 10% Merch

     White tag books are no longer a dollar each, rare books are no longer BOGO which is fine, there was not that many rare books left in the sections I was in to speak of. A tent was located out back Garage Sale style with boxes of books and movies, and those you could fill a bag for $20. I feel bad for the poor owner, every person that came in was explained the rules and regulations of sale. Details are a little foggy, and the only thing I could find on their facebook referenced a Swag Bag sale, which people have no idea what that means when she talked about. Just call it Fill a bag for $50? Either way, I understood as I've been coming for a little while. 

     All said, I put 51 qualifying books in my bag, I could have fit some more, and she told me to top it off before I left, which I tried to do, but I could not really find anything else that I wanted to take home. At this point in my collection, 75% of it is in boxes and I can't even look at it, so anything that goes in the bag may not see the light of day anytime soon.

Here is the take, a good few little stacks, more than worth the average of $1.00 a book. I think there was a lot more value last time at half the price, but I digress. 

The final small stack is some books I set aside as being better condition, worth more, or just stood out to me initially when I took them out of the bag. 

     Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers was in great shape, and was not considered rare, but I have never seen one in the wild, not even in specialty stores or on Instagram. Phillip K Dick and Zelazny collab really stuck out, and was mixed in with the ton of Zelazny stuff they have piled up. I should mention that if you are looking to complete a series, this store has a ton of those books, all organized by alpha and series. It's really great, and I took advantage of that with a few books today.

     I spotted these really interesting compilation books mixed in, and married them up for a little impromptu reunion. I noticed Piers Anthony on the cover of one, and some of my other favorites mixed in, and those covers! I had to grab them and make them part of the collection. These Anthology books to me are kind of crazy in how many there actually are. I've been collecting for 25 years, and I keep finding new and interesting ones, hardcover, paperback, different themes.. you name it. They keep coming. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Ollie is a Hardcover kind-of dog. (Pet Retrospective)

Hoots (Ollie) sleeping in his favorite place.

     I think everyone can see the theme- I love my pets and I love my books. My first and best animal I've ever had, Bastian, passed away not too long ago, which makes me appreciate the time I have with them every day. My pets all have a place in the history of this blog, in my life, and in my heart. As Artax just hit 12 years old, let's remember him, Bastian, and The Hoots in the post history below:  

Double Trouble - $25 Fill-a-bag - Happy New Year - Rainy Day Book Haul - Sci-Fi Advertisments

Arizona Paperback Exchange - Flea Market Pickups 5 - Flea Market Pick Ups 4 - Cat Tax 

Adventure Quest - Mcgregor Thrift Store Pickups - Sanibel Island Pickups - Piers Anthony

Collecting Gene Wolf's The Book of the New Sun Trilogy

 

Amazing books, if you can afford them

     Gene Wolf was born on May 7th 1931 (we share a birthday) and unfortunately he passed in April of 2019 at the ripe old age of 87 years old. He was one of the strongest story tellers and fantasy authors of the 20th century. He is most known for the books above, known to most as the Torturer Trilogy, or the Book of the New Sun Trilogy officially. The Shadow of the Torturer is one of the best books ever written in the genre, winning all of the prestigious awards available, and netting Wolf the highest honor of Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

The Best.

The trilogy itself is nothing short of amazing. It's gripping and world building, explains violence in a poetic and passive way, and sets the tone for a whole new breed of author that develops character-in-world assuming that you know that this world exists. Shadow, the first book in the series is considered one of the best Fantasy books ever written.

Classics in their own right.

     In the last 3-5 years and since Wolf's death, the value of the books have increased pretty considerably. Timescape- The series that this book trilogy was released under, was not really something people went out of their way for in the 80's. I would pass on these books knowing they are rereleases of popular novels on the cheap. The greatness of the book, with the small amount of releases back then, was the perfect storm of increasing value to the whole series. A poor condition example of Shadow for instance, goes for around $25 on any given day. The trilogy can go for as much as $80 bundled together, or more depending on condition. I have had a lot of luck just finding these copies at paperback exchanges for $1, so people really don't know how rare they are, or how much they cost, or how great the books are. To be safe, pick up all Timescape books going forward for sure.

Yet another package from Arizona

    Mom comes to the rescue again with some great vintage science fiction. What was thought to be a wife-requested box of flannel pillow cases, turned out to be quite the little score of paperbacks.

   I left the bags on, but you get the idea. I love me some Ace Doubles. I don't have many Farmer ones, and he is by far one of my favorites. He did some collaborations with Piers Anthony, and that's when I started reading some of his older stuff back in high school.

The Mad Goblin cover is really great and embodies the cheap/quick and dirty art of the day. Super iconic. The K. Dick Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said is in pretty decent condition, and I have never owned a copy. I called my mom to let her know it sells for around $100 on ebay in used/worn condition, and told her I would never sell it and it's safe with me. It's good to build the Phillip K. Dick collection back up from when I sold some off, and have good examples of that era.

Cheers.

Lazy Holiday Weekend Pickups at Salvation Army

The fence is there to protect all the beat up old furniture.

My wife has been on the hunt for art and a coffee table she could fix up for last month-ish, so I have accompanied her on these outings. We have been chasing this Memorial Day sale at the Salvation Army, where each and every week the sales increase until the last week of the month, where everything is 75% off. For someone who says they are not "Seriously Collecting" anymore, I sure do find my share of stuff.

Cube of Wonderous Things

Books were slim at the 4 locations we went to, but at the first store, I did find 4 shelves of beat up sci-fi and fantasy for .25 cents each. The place was really packed with customers, so it was hard to grab this picture without someone walking by, or me looking like an asshole. Not a ton I was really looking for, but there were some standouts.

     The R.R. Martin got me a little excited, but then I saw the condition and just deflated. I have never read it, so at least I can say I have a first edition and that I read it. Naked Society is not something you see often, and the Heinlein is something I don't remember having in my collection. Picked up the Enders Game because I sold my first/first copy and all I have is some shitty modern cover edition I hate. Love the book and the original cover, so it was a no brainer. Nothing really to sell like the last post, but still a nice little haul. I will say that I have been passing up things I would normally buy in the last year or so. I have so many boxes I have not opened in years that I forgot what is in them, so there is no reason to really go crazy. If I can get 2 more book cases in my office however.. it's go-time.

Thanks for reading.

Huge Hardcover Score at Life's Treasures Thrift

Don't sleep on thrift stores, ladies and gentlemen. 

My wife woke up this morning and declared it a Garage Sale Day, and by the rules of Mother's Day weekend, you are not allowed to say no.. and I wanted to go anyways. We drove around for what seemed like an hour, and it was so hot so only saw a few sales. After a quick coffee, we decided to hit the thrift stores in our area. I've been to life's treasures only once before, and it was more of a clothing store than anything, but things had changed in the year or so since I've stopped by.

While my son went straight to the VHS tapes, I went over to the book shelves. First thing I noticed in the bins were 100's of science fiction and fantasy books, all .50 cents each and in really good shape.

Bins and bins of 80's and 90's modern fantasy and science fiction. Nothing really crazy in terms of value, but if you were looking to complete a lesser known series without hitting ebay, you could easily get that done here. A quick inspection and I only picked out four paperbacks that had a value of over $10, all Timescape novels by Pournelle. Not sure why, but Timescape is really hot right now. I was ready to leave when I decided to just give the hard covers a once over like I always do, and I never expect much to be honest. Hard covers are heavy, take up a ton of space, and the liklihood of me finding anything rare is.. well, rare.

The motherlode 

The first bookcase I looked in, you can see in the brown bookcase above in the first picture of the bins. It was 100% filled with 60, 70's and early 80's first edition and book club edition science fiction and fantasy hard covers in amazing condition. All but a few looks unread, or near mint. Two full bookcases! I asked the wife to bring me over a cart so I could unload some of the more familiar authors and see what I'm looking at. I'm nervous even writing this; I left about 100 more hard covers at the store. I right about to buy new tires for my truck, so I'm making some kind of attempt to save money, so I grabbed the 30 I thought would be the best at the moment.

What a find. It's been since I went back to the Book Rack over two years ago since I've seen some BCE and old school hard backs in the wild, but these were only $2 each, and the book rack charged low eBay pricing. BCE Books from the late 70's must be made out of different paper or something, because they always look pretty decent and the when the dust jackets are on, they are in great shape with little wear.

These all-in-one series anthonologies always peak my interest. I like boxed sets, and this has the same appeal. These are mail away first editions from 1978, have all the maps and fun of the original first editions and have unique cover art. The Boris cover Zalazny's were really awesome, shared the same cover, and I'm glad I picked them up. Overall, a great score, and I hope I can make it back soon with some more cash to pick up another haul of these books before they are gone. I secretly hope someone is reading this and heads down to Life's Treasures Thrift to pick up some books and benefits from this in some way. Even the paperbacks would be special to someone who is just starting their collection and wants to pick up a couple of boxes on the cheap.

Thanks for reading.